The  ^reign  Missions  Convention 
OF  THE  United  States  and  Canada 


Washington,  D.  C. 
January  28  to  February  2,  1925 


Preliminary  cAnnouncement 


•To  .  .. 

V_y HE  Foreign  Missions  Conference  of  North  America,  attended  by  the  representatives 
of  the  foreign  mission  organizations  of  Canada  and  of  the  United  States,  in  session  at 
Atlantic  City  in  January,  1924,  unanimously  resolved  to  hold  an  interdenominational  Foreign 
Missionary  Convention  at  some  convenient  time  during  the  winter  of  1924-5,  and  referred 
to  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  (the  Standing  Committee  of  the  Conference)  “all 
the  arrangements  as  to  date,  place,  personnel,  and  program.”  It  was  also  decided  that  the 
Foreign  Mission  Boards  of  Canada  and  of  the  United  States  should  be  invited  to  send  dele¬ 
gates  to  the  Convention  on  the  same  ratio  of  representation  as  is  set  forth  in  “Article  V” 
on  “Membership”  in  the  constitution  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference.  The  Committee 
of  Reference  and  Counsel  was  instructed  to  make  provision  for  all  other  delegates. 


The  Committee  of  Arrangements,  appointed  by  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Coun¬ 
sel,  makes  the  following  preliminary  announcement  with  regard  to  the  Convention: 


1.  Purpose: 

The  primary  purpose  of  the  Convention  is  for  the  information  and  inspiration  of  the 
churches  of  Canada  and  the  United  States.  It  will  be  an  educational,  not  a  delibera¬ 
tive  or  legislative  assembly.  It  will  not  deal  with  questions  and  problems  of  admin¬ 
istration  on  the  mission  field.  Its  messages  will  be  designed  to  enlarge  the  interest 
and  deepen  the  conviction  of  the  Christian  people  at  the  home  base  as  to  their  foreign 
mission  responsibilities  and  obligations. 

2.  Dates:  January  28  to  February  2,  1925  (inclusive). 

The  first  session  of  the  Convention  will  be  held  at  3  o’clock  on  the  afternoon  of 
Wednesday,  January  28,  and  the  Convention  will  close  with  the  session  to  be  held 
on  the  evening  of  Monday,  February  2. 

3.  Place:  The  Convention  will  be  held  in  the  Washington  Auditorium,  in  Wash¬ 
ington,  D.  C. 

This  is  a  new  Auditorium  which  has  been  built  for  convention  purposes  which  will 
be  ready  in  the  fall  of  1924.  It  is  of  improved  fire-proof  construction  and  is  ad¬ 
mirably  adapted  for  meetings  of  the  Convention.  It  is  located  at  New  York 
Avenue  and  Nineteenth  Street. 

A  cordial  invitation  to  Washington  has  been  extended  by  the  Pastors  Association 
of  Washington. 


4.  Personnel;  The  Foreign  Mission  Boards  and  Societies  of  Canada  and  the  United 
States  are  invited  to  send  delegates  to  the  proposed  Convention  on  the  same  ratio  of 
representation  as  is  provided  in  the  article  on  “Membership”  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Conference  (see  pages  366-367  of  the  Thirty-first  Report  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference, 
1924 — “Article  V — Membership”), 

Attendance  at  the  Convention  will  be  limited  to  5,000  delegates  representing 
Boards  and  Societies.  This  means  that  participating  Boards  will  be  entitled  to  send 
to  Washington  twelve  times  as  many  delegates  (including  representatives  of  both 
the  General  Boards  and  the  Women’s  Boards)  as  they  are  entitled  to  send  to  a 
regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference;  for  example,  if  the 
General  and  the  Women’s  Foreign  Boards  of  a  denomination,  on  the  basis  of  rep¬ 
resentation  provided  for  by  the  constitution,  be  entitled,  to  ten  delegates  (not  in¬ 
cluding  corresponding  members)  at  the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  Conference  they  may  send  120  delegates  to  the  Convention  at  Washington, 
including  both  men  and  women. 

Each  delegation  should  include  the  following: 

(a)  Officers  and  members  of  Foreign  Mission  Boards  (both  men  and  women). 

(b)  Pastors  of  churches. 

(c)  Laymen  and  laywomen  in  equal  numbers. 

(d)  General  church  officials. 

(e)  Theological  and  college  professors. 

(f)  Foreign  Missionaries  at  home  on  furlough. 

(g)  Student  Volunteers  and  other  candidates  for  the  foreign  mission  field. 

It  was  further  agreed,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Coun¬ 
sel,  that  the  attention  of  the  Boards  and  Societies  should  be  called  to  the  wisdom  of 
appointing  as  delegates  men  and  women,  lay-workers  and  pastors,  who  are  under  35 
years  of  age. 

In  addition  to  the  delegates  provided  for  in  the  above,  provision  will  be  made  for 

(a)  Representatives  of  churches  on  the  mission  field. 

(b)  Representatives  of  national  foreign  mission  organizations  of  Great  Britain,  Con¬ 
tinental  Europe,  South  Africa  and  Australasia. 

5.  Registration  Fees;  In  order  to  meet  the  general  expenses  of  the  Convention,  the 
Committee  decided  that  there  should  be  a  registration  fee  of  $6  for  each  delegate.  Applica¬ 
tion  for  credentials  must  be  sent  to  the  Secretaries  of  the  participating  Boards. 

6.  Hotel  Accommodations  and  Elntertainment ;  The  Convention  will  be  self-entertain¬ 
ing.  There  are  in  Washington  a  great  variety  of  hotels  and  boarding  houses.  A  local 
committee  on  entertainment  will  be  appointed  in  Washington  to  cooperate  with  the  delegates 
and  with  the  Board  officers  in  arranging  hotel  accommodations.  Full  information  will  be  sup¬ 
plied  at  a  later  date. 

7.  Railway  Arrangements:  Application  is  being  made  to  the  railways  for  a  reduced 
rate  on  account  of  the  Convention,  Information  with  regard  to  railway  rates  will  be  issued 
when  the  arrangements  have  been  completed. 


i 


8.  Program:  The  Convention  Program  will  have  the  following  features: 

(a)  There  will  be  two  platform  meetings  each  day  in  the  Auditorium  during  the 
forenoons  and  evenings.  The  best  available  speakers  will  be  secured  for  these 
meetings. 

(b)  There  will  be  on  each  afternocn  simultaneous  conferences,  each  with  its  own 
complete  program. 

(c)  Provision  will  be  made  on  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  February  2,  for  meetings 
of  the  representatives  of  the  different  denominational  groups  and  Boards  for  the 
purpose  of  considering  the  best  methods  of  gathering  up  the  results  of  the  Conven¬ 
tion  and  carrying  to  the  churches  and  to  the  membership  of  the  different  denomi¬ 
nations  the  inspiration  of  the  Convention. 

9.  Admission  to  the  Convention:  Admission  to  all  sessions  of  the  Convention  will  be 
by  ticket.  Tickets  will  be  furnished  only  to  delegates  presenting  credentials  issued  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  and  countersigned  by  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Mission  Boards  appointing  the  delegates.  Credential  cards  will  be  supplied  to  Boards  on 
receipt  of  registration  fees  for  all  delegates  appointed  up  to  the  number  to  which  the  Boards 
are  entitled  under  the  rule  governing  the  basis  of  representation. 

To  illustrate:  If  the  foreign  missionary  organizations  of  any  denomination  be  entitled 
to  150  delegates,  delegate  credentials  will  be  issued  up  to  the  total  of  150  on  receipt  of  the 
registration  fees. 


The  benefits  of  this  interdenominational  Missionary  Convention  to  the  churches  of  the 
Canada  and  United  States  cannot  be  estimated.  Held  at  this  opportune  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Church,  bringing  together  so  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  different  denominations  of 
these  two  countries  as  well  as  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  forces  in  many  other  lands,  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Convention  at  Washington  cannot  fail  to  give  a  mighty  impulse  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  churches  and  inspire  them  to  greater  sacrifice  for  the  missionary  objec¬ 
tive  and  make  possible  a  notable  advance  in  the  foreign  missionary  movement. 

If  this  inspiring  hope  is  to  be  realized,  it  is  essential  that  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
progress  of  Christ’s  Kingdom  give  themselves  faithfully  to  prayer  on  behalf  of  the  Con¬ 
vention  arrangements,  exercising  large  faith  in  God,  the  source  of  all  power. 

On  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements: 

James  L.  Barton,  Chairman 
Fennell  P.  Turner,  Secretary 

Address  correspondence  to 

Fennell  P.  Turner,  Secretary 

Foreign  Missions  Conference  of  North  America, 

25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


